Stabroek News- By Ian McDonald –
As a companion volume to my planned book Portraits of Extraordinary people, I intend to add Portraits of Extraordinary Places. One such portrait follows.
Someimes my wife and I go up the great Essequibo to stay at the beautiful river-home of my brother-in-law and his wife. Not far away we share with friends a river-home of our own. In these lovely places we have spent many of the most contented hours of our lives. We also can say we have lived in Arcady.
It is a long way from the island-scattered mouth yet the river here is like a sea miles across and the waves wild as an ocean’s when storms come and you cannot see the other shore so far away. This is one of the things I love about the Essequibo. It is a mighty force of nature. Continue reading
GUYANA: D’Urban Park. Georgetown – By Ralph Ramkarran
– The Horse-Racing Mecca in the 1950’s
D’Urban Park and D’Urban Backlands are named after Sir Benjamin D’Urban, appointed Governor of Demerara-Essequibo in 1824. He became, with the addition of Berbice in 1831, Governor of British Guiana from 1831 to 1833. D’Urban Park was home to Guyana’s most famous horse racing track. I remember when, still a child, I was taken there to horse racing, perhaps in the early 1950s.
I don’t know by whom, but I believe that it might have been an uncle, a lifelong horseracing enthusiast. I distinctly recall the crowd and the noise, over which the resonantly distinctive voice of the announcer, expertly modulated and paced to evoke tension and excitement as the race came to a climactic end. That voice announced horse racing over the radio throughout my youth. Continue reading →
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